Throwback: The year nothing could rain on our parade

For this month's Throwback instalment, we take a trip down memory lane when the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade was less corporate driven and more political — but still just as camp and fabulous as it is today.

IT had been a rainy day in 1995, but even that didn’t stop over 150,000 people from heading down to the 18th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, marking the biggest on record at the time.

To commemorate the event pop icon Madonna aired a pre-recorded message for those at the parade, dedicating the world premiere of her music video for Bedtime Stories to her “friends” in Sydney’s gay and lesbian community.

The parade featured a John Paul II lookalike alongside the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, something then-Mardi Gras president Rob Patmore pointed out in his address to the crowd.

“It was staggering how the rain held off… perhaps because we had the Pope and so many sisters,” he laughed.

To commemorate the occasion, Sydney Star Observer had a special souvenir liftout filled with pictures and anecdotes of the parade night.

* The Sydney Star Observer is what the Star Observer was known as in 1995.